Kuragari no Kokoro: Darkness of the Heart
by MechaUltimaZero
Summary: Originally by Dirty Reid. A while before the Kyuubi attacked Konoha, Minato and his grandfather were cursed with the Darkness of the Heart. Minato's grandfather died from it and Minato died sealing the Kyuubi. But the curse didn't end there. Discontinued
1. Prelude to Darkness

**I would like to say right now that this story was originally written and posted by Dirty Reid. Unfortunately, he chose to delete it—I say unfortunate because not only was it well-written with a semi-rare pairing, but also because it was one of my favorite stories. Sadly, I haven't been able to get DR to answer me about whether or not I actually CAN rewrite this, so I'm taking matters into my own hands. DR, if you tell me that you really want me to stop this, then I will. However, I won't delete it—I believe that only true crap should be deleted, and this was—and still is—certainly **_**not**_** crap in any way.**

**Without further ado, I present **_**'Kuragari no Kokoro: Darkness of the Heart'**_**.**

**___________**

Chapter One: Prelude to Darkness

Minato cursed openly—a habit he knew that, as a father, he should try to break, but sometimes foul language was the only way to express oneself without going on a destructive rampage.

Due to the intelligence reports, he'd thankfully known about the Kyuubi attack a full three weeks in advance. He had used those three weeks to evacuate the civilians, trying to minimize casualties.

After all, it was inevitable that people would die, so why—"Damn it Minato, stop thinking like that!" he shouted at himself.

Last week, Minato had gone with his grandfather to a witch doctor to see if he could delay the monster for a while longer—long enough to come up with a better choice than the Reaper Death Seal.

The witch doctor had been able to do so, but his price was too high.

With a sardonic chuckle, Minato remembered that he and his grandfather hadn't gone home empty-handed, though. No, the witch doctor had seen fit to curse them with what he'd called 'Kuragari no Kokoro', or the 'Darkness of the Heart'.

Minato hated himself—not only because of what the curse had turned him into, but even more so because of what he was about to do.

"Kushina-hime, I don't want to do this to our baby, but I have to."

Tearing up, the love of his life gave him their son. He couldn't help but look into her heartbroken eyes, and indeed it caused his own heart to break as well.

Turning to face the night, he summoned Gamabunta and prepared for battle. Until, of course, his predecessor tried to stop him.

"Please Minato-kun, don't do this. Let me perform the sealing—don't make your son grow up without a father."

Suddenly, a… malevolence spread throughout the room—not killing intent; more like the feeling of pure evil—as Minato Namikaze changed. His vibrant blonde hair turned to pitch black, and some of it fell over, covering his right eye. His left eye, however, had gone from electric blue to a sickening yellow. His somewhat pale skin had become even more so, and he seemed to radiate darkness.

Even his voice had become darker as he hissed, "Sarutobi, we have discussed this repeatedly! You are not as proficient in the required seals as I am… and as Naruto is my son, I must do it myself." Suddenly, Minato's expression softened as he slowly began reverting and said, "I'm sorry for that… but this curse killed my father, and it will likely kill me soon anyway. It's best I die protecting this village, and with any luck, the curse will end with me. And if not… then I have put everything in order as best as I can."

With that, Minato disappeared into the night. As he performed the Forbidden Seal, the Kyuubi lost not with a roar, but a whimper.


	2. Return of the Darkness

**As stated before, this story was originally by Dirty Reid. Therefore, not only do I not own Naruto, but I don't even technically own this story, either—and yet HE says it's better than his original (blasphemy! Heresy!)!!! Ponder that as you read if you will.**

_________

Chapter Two: Return of the Darkness

Twelve years later, Naruto was on his first mission out of the village.

It was supposed to have been a simple C-ranked job—escort a bridge builder back to his home in the Land of Waves. Naturally, it had since become an A-ranked nightmare. After being attacked by rogue ninja, coming within an inch of death, and his first friend full of senbon, Naruto wasn't certain what would happen next. All he could feel right then was an absolute, all-consuming rage.

Flames of chakra licked at his body, enveloping him in the power of the Nine-Tailed Fox. He punched one of the Hunter-ninja's Ice Mirrors, breaking it instantly, before something… dark flooded through his body. It was such a peculiar sensation: he somehow instinctively _knew_ it was bad—even worse than the Kyuubi, somehow—and yet… it just felt so _good_. He felt stronger, faster—more powerful in every way.

But that wasn't the only way he felt good—it was like some kind of pleasure flowing through him, some sick ecstasy. It was both disgustingly vile and gloriously euphoric at once.

Grinning, Naruto said, (in a significantly darker voice) "You tried to kill me, Hunter-san. It's time I return the favor."

With that, he lashed out with bursts of the red chakra—not as powerful as before, but with much greater control—and the mirrors began to crack. Suddenly, he had to evade a flurry of senbon.

Silently cursing to himself, Naruto realized that the mirrors were repairing themselves. He'd have to attack to stop that from happening, but wasn't able to do so—he needed his full attention to evade the onslaught of senbon.

Glancing at Sasuke for a moment, he noticed two things: first, that the Uchiha had apparently activated his Sharingan; and second, that said Uchiha was looking at him with a horrified expression.

Frowning, but not worrying about it for now, Naruto continued trying to dodge the potentially lethal projectiles.

Imagine his surprise when he started seeing the weapons in slow motion. Unsure of why, but thankful that such was the case, Naruto began analyzing the weapons' positions.

This way, he could move to dodge them before it was really necessary, enabling him to continue attacking the mirrors.

'_I don't know why I can suddenly do all of this, but I'm damn sure not complaining! Wait a minute, since when the hell do I curse?!'_

Shaking his head to clear it of the (for now) unimportant trivia, Naruto succeeded in shattering mirror after mirror until only one remained.

At that point, the Hunter-ninja left the mirror and said, "Naruto-kun, I can only beg that you kill me now, as I have failed my use to Zabuza-sama."

Widening his eyes, Naruto asked, "Why should I kill you if you beg to die? But more importantly"—here his eyes narrowed—"how the hell do you know my name?!"

Sasuke was unconscious due to his wounds—and from shock—but would've flinched if he'd been awake. After all, Naruto _never_ cursed. He never even called Sasuke a bastard, for cripe's sake! (He often felt like calling him a bastard, but since his mother had been very strict about foul language, Naruto always settled for 'jerk' or when really irked, 'prick'.)

As the Hunter-nin removed her mask, Naruto's eyes widened once more as he recognized her. He exclaimed, "Haku?!"

Then, his face contorted into a mask of barely constrained rage. "I trusted you! I fucking _trusted_ you! I didn't turn you in that day in the clearing, and you repay me by trying to fucking kill me?! Burn for eternity, you bitch!"

His fingers were engulfed in black flames as he punched viciously Haku in the gut causing her body itself to catch fire. He sneered at her and said, "That's Darkfire, you traitor. It'll burn you alive and not kill you until you're just a pile of embers. Oh, and although it burns the rest of you normally, it actually causes your nerve centers to regenerate every so often. That way, you won't escape the pain."

Then, having incapacitated the phony hunter ninja, Naruto turned in the direction of Kakashi's battle with Zabuza.

Sakura saw him at this point, and could barely keep from screaming.

Naruto had seemingly grown a few inches so that he was taller than either of his teammates. His shockingly blonde hair had turned pitch black, and some of it had fallen to cover his right eye. His skin had become a bit pale, but the main thing that horrified Sakura was that Naruto's visible eye… was yellow with shrikes in it, like some evil perversion of the Sharingan. After a moment, though, the shrikes began to fade so that it was simply yellow.

Naruto also gave off an aura of pure… malevolence—there was no other word to describe it.

______

Kakashi and Zabuza had also felt the rush of darkness that flooded the bridge like a plague. Zabuza wondered if it might've been one of Kakashi's jutsu, but in his heart knew that not to be the case.

Kakashi, however, recognized the stench of evil and pinpointed it immediately.

'_Oh God… Minato-sensei's curse—it didn't end with him! Shit, shit, shit!'_

Making a few handsigns, Kakashi prepared for his only major original jutsu.

"Zabuza, it's time to end this now.** Lightning Blade!**"

As the blue electricity in his hand pierced Zabuza's heart, Haku could only watch in horror from her tortured position. If she'd only waited, she could have been able to save him…

Seeing her distress, Naruto grinned at her and asked, "So tell me... how does it feel now that you've _really_ failed your precious Zabuza-_sama_?"

Then, in a lower voice, he asked, "Come now dear, why haven't you begun screaming yet? I'm certain that such a lovely creature as you are would have a beautiful voice for pain."

To punctuate his certainty, Naruto took a kunai and stabbed her thigh with it—causing her to scream out in agony. She had been able to bear the burning (so far), but the sudden, sharp wound from the blade was the last straw.

Naruto listened gleefully as the girl screamed. Now that she'd broken her silence, she couldn't stop screaming from the fire, either.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Naruto mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like "Ah. Music to my ears…"

Suddenly, though, his 'song' was halted by a kunai in Haku's heart.

Frowning as he looked at Kakashi, Naruto asked, "Why did you stop the screaming? It was so beautiful… like something from Mozart."

From across the dissipating mist, a short fat man in a five thousand-dollar suit was clapping his hands as he said, "I agree wholeheartedly with you, boy. That bitch deserved every second of whatever you did to her—tell me, how would you like to become my personal musician? So long as you play well, you'd be paid handsomely."

Removing all emotion from his face save a pleasant smile, Naruto asked, "Are you Gato of the Gato Corporation?"

Kakashi and Sakura were appalled—what the fucking hell'd happened to Naruto to make him act like this!?

"Why as a matter of fact, yes I am. So what's your answer, boy?"

Still showing that pleasant smile, Naruto eyed the hundred or so samurai and other hitmen around Gato before speaking.

"My answer is this: I'll work for you, Gato, once the sun has risen in the West."

Then, he created twin swords from the Darkfire and rushed at the horde, wondering whether or not he should yell the phrase 'hack and slash'.

Deciding against it, he simply cut through the normal swords like a hot knife through butter, and the humans were cut down just as easily.

He couldn't help but laugh in the unholy carnage. As Naruto stabbed a Darkfire blade through someone's throat, he wished the slaughter spree would go on forever.

As he finally slew Gato himself, Naruto muttered, "Alas, all good things must come to an end."

Then, he turned around to look at his handiwork, and to see the terror on his teammates' and sensei's faces.

But suddenly, the darkness left him.

Naruto reverted to the way he had been before—both physically and mentally.

Seeing the bloodbath he was responsible for, Naruto screamed in horror and self-loathing as he passed out.

________

When Naruto awoke, he found Tsunami staring at him, great concern in her eyes. Upon seeing that he'd regained consciousness, she asked, "Naruto-kun, what on earth happened to you?"

Then, in a louder voice, she turned and called, "Hey everyone—Naruto-kun's awake!"

Following the _thud-thump_ of running feet, Kakashi, Sakura, Inari, and Tazuna virtually crashed into the room. Sasuke arrived immediately after.

Right off the bat, Kakashi asked, "Naruto, how do you feel? Are you all right?"

Sakura also asked how Naruto felt, and although Sasuke remained silent, concern was indeed evident even on _his_ face.

Holding up a hand to keep them quiet long enough to speak, Naruto said, "Not so loud… To answer your question, I feel like I'm having the mother of all hangovers—no offense, Tsunami-san. And as for you two, Sakura-chan, Kakashi-sensei—since when do you actually care how I feel?"

It was Sasuke who answered, "After what happened at the bridge, we have every right to be concerned, you baka. You tortured that fake Hunter-ninja, and then you slaughtered those samurai like they were flies!"

Wincing, Naruto muttered, "Jeez, ever heard of using your inside voice? And what samurai?! All I remember is punching one of Haku-chan's mirrors to break it, and then I felt all weird, and everything after that… is just a blurry mess."

Silently, he wondered if the Nine-Tails might've possessed him and killed all those people or something.

Not that he knew this, of course, but his life would've been so much better if that were indeed the case….

____________

_Next time on Darkness of the Heart:_

_Wishing only to scare the foreign shinobi, he suddenly changed again, allowing the darkness to reveal itself._

_She suggested, "Maybe you're a vampire or werewolf?" _

_With a hollow laugh, Naruto said, "My dear, that's like comparing Jason Voorhees to a five year-old with a kitchen knife."_

"_So you mean, the Kyuubi _didn't_ take over my body and kill those people? It was _me_?!"_

"_Naruto… your father was the Fourth Hokage."_

________

**Well, including the preview of the next chapter and this A/N, it's about 6 pages on Microsoft Word. Please, tell me what you think. The pairing is already decided—it's a remake of the original, which I'm doing my best to stay true to. However, if the Great, Almost-But-Not-Quite-All-Powerful, Not-All-But-Mostly-Knowing DR says that I can change/add to the pairing, then I might very well give Naruto an extra girlfriend or two—God knows he deserves 'em. (If I did give Naruto some more girlfriends, they'd probably be a somewhat younger Anko and/or Temari.)**

**By the way, if you have any respect for the Soul Calibur games, then go to Dirty Reid's profile and vote for Soul Edge/Nightmare in his poll. It's embedded at the top, near the navigation for the search engine. Yes, this means that you can't vote for Sephiroth. I'll admit he's badass, but YOU have to admit that Nightmare and Soul Edge are at least SCARIER (which is the whole point of his poll), if not more badass as well. Besides, Sephiroth gets way too much PR as it is.**

**And if you're reading this, DR, then I will gladly admit that I'm using whatever influence I have to change the outcome of your poll. And if Sephiroth wins anyway, I will start a petition telling you to change it to Nightmare/Soul Edge if I can get a hundred people to sign it (or rather, do so on a forum topic in my profile) between the end of your poll and the chapter announcing who the Summon Boss is.**

**No, I'm not cheating the system.**

**I'm simply REALLY fucking dedicated to my favorite incarnation of terror.**

**I should probably put the last few paragraphs on my profile, but here there's a greater chance of people actually reading it.... Am I ever going to shut up? Meh. Maybe. Anyway, I swear I'll shut up after this next bit. Promise. You can even give yourself a cake for suffering through my extra-long A/N!**

**If you like this story, then I humbly suggest that you also read 'Manhunter' and 'Fox-Carnage'.**

**Manhunter is the first Naruto/Hannibal crossover on the site (at least, I'm fairly certain that's so). In it, Naruto is cared for by Doctor Lecter from the age of seven. The pairing is . And yes, Naruto eats people. In chap 3, he ate a Root ANBU's heart right in front of the poor bastard.**

**Fox-Carnage is a Naruto/Marvel crossover, which I feel is breaking new ground with each chapter—not simply because of the sheer scope of the 'Marvelization' of some of the characters, but because it's a fic in which Carnage (i.e. Naruto) is actually a hero instead of a villain; even though he IS still a serial killer.**

**You can give yourself that cake now, if you want.**


	3. A Deal with the Darkness

Last time, on Darkness of the Heart…

_Upon awakening the curse of his father and great-grandfather, Naruto tortured Haku and killed Gato's samurai army using dark sorcery, but once he returned to normal the day after, was unable to remember the carnage he'd created. _

Chapter Three: A Deal with Darkness

Waking up, Naruto remembered that the Hokage had asked him for a personal, private debriefing on the Wave mission later that day.

For now, though, he simply got dressed in a pair of black slacks and a red short-sleeved shirt—the orange jumpsuit was at the cleaners today.

Sighing, Naruto wondered why it couldn't have been orange.

'_**Because orange screams "Kill me," you dolt.'**_

Turning around as he drew a kunai, Naruto demanded, "Who's there?!"

When the strange voice didn't answer, Naruto decided that he must have been hearing things.

But for the rest of the day, he heard dark whispers that made him uneasy…

_______

Walking into the Hokage's office in the afternoon, he was surprised to find that Iruka-sensei and his girlfriend Anko Mitarashi were also present.

"But old man, I thought you said this was private."

Lighting his pipe, Hiruzen replied, "Well, it is, but seeing how close you are to Iruka-kun and Anko-chan, I felt it proper to include them—since we might learn more than we think today."

Choosing not to dwell on the riddle, Naruto simply recounted how the mission to Wave had progressed.

"And when I was in Haku's Demon Ice Mirrors, I was about to die when the Kyuubi's power activated, healing me. Then, I punched and broke one of the mirrors, and after that, I felt something… bad."

Concerned, the Sandaime asked, "Naruto, could you please explain? What was bad about what you felt?"

Shivering, Naruto answered.

"Everything, sort of. I felt kind of sick to my stomach for a few seconds, and then it felt really good—like I didn't have a care in the world, like I was on top of the universe. But at the same time, it felt so… _wrong_. I remember something… bad running through my body, like it was in my blood, and then… everything's a blur."

Looking up at the Hokage, Naruto asked, "Is the seal breaking down? Because I think the Kyuubi possessed me—even Sasuke-san said that I tortured Haku-san and killed over a hundred samurai without even flinching."

Looking like he'd had a heart attack, Sarutobi said, "No Naruto—that wasn't the work o the Kyuubi. What I am about to tell you is something even more important than anything; important enough that by comparison, telling people about the Kyuubi is mere trivia.

"Naruto… your father was the Fourth Hokage."

Gripping his head and kneeling on the ground, Naruto appeared to be on the verge of a mental breakdown. His father was the Fourth Hokage?!

Before he could speak, Hiruzen gave him a scroll as he said, "Please read this immediately and remember what it says before you ask any questions, Naruto-kun. It's a letter from your father—one of the last things he ever did before he died."

His shaking hands unsealing the scroll, Naruto read it—and the contents shocked him to the core.

'_My son, if you're reading this, then one of two things has happened. In the first case, you've turned fifteen and are a chunin, and if that's so, then I congratulate you. In the other case, however… I am so, so sorry that you have inherited my curse._

_Before I explain, I should make certain you know the whole story._

_A prophetess warned my grandfather of the Nine-Tail's attack six months before it actually happened. He came and told me, and we immediately began searching for a way to defeat it. Notice that I say 'defeat' rather than 'kill' or 'destroy' because Demons such as the Kyuubi are immortal._

_The only method I could find to protect Konoha was a Forbidden Fuinjutsu known as the Reaper Death Seal. It could seal even a creature as mighty as the Kyuubi, but with two conditions: that the vessel be a newborn human child, and that whoever seals the monster give up his soul to the Reaper. And understand that I do not refer to the lesser Reapers, known as Shinigami, but the true Reaper—Death itself. Allowing such a creature to have my soul would've meant losing all chance of an afterlife, as my soul would be devoured—a fate I was not keen on suffering._

_My grandfather and I eventually went to see a witch doctor, to see if he would be able to give us another way to stop the Fox. He told us that there was another way, but demanded payment for the information: he wanted the first three children born each year for the next decade to be his slaves._

_Compared with selling my people into servitude like that, damnation and the end of existence were all too appealing. I told him that the price was too high, and apologized for wasting his time. Sadly, he thought that "sorry" didn't cut it, and cursed us with what he called "Kuragari no Kokoro" or "Darkness of the Heart". If you are reading this letter before you've turned fifteen AND become chunin, then my worst fear has come to pass—you have inherited the Darkness of the Heart._

_So that you won't be unprepared, I'm going to tell you exactly what the effects are._

_First, you must understand that it grants you considerable power—and in many ways. While it is active, you become stronger, faster, resistant to injury, and all of your senses are enhanced tenfold. Furthermore, it causes you to be able to copy any Kekkei Genkai or Clan secret jutsu—but not unless you use the Darkness. If you want, you could think of the Darkness as a kind of suped-up Sharingan while it's active._

_In addition, you gain several new abilities such as Dark Elementalism, a number of psionic powers, and the inherent power to use the Dark Summoning. However, using any of these—indeed, using the Darkness at all will shorten your lifespan in a proportion equal to the amount of time spent 'corrupted'. Worse still is that over time, the Darkness will eat away at your soul, just as if you were being devoured by the Reaper._

_I can only pray that you never have to use the Darkness, but I know that there will always be someone stronger—some threat who's targeted you because of either the Kyuubi, or simply because of the Darkness itself (in the latter case, they're just looking for a fight, I'm afraid)._

_Either way, it's almost certain that you will be forced to use the Darkness at least once in your life, so I'm going to tell you how to perform Dark Summoning—the rest, I fear, will come to you without help._

_The hand-signs are simple, and there are only four: Dog, Snake, Tiger, and Dragon._

_My only regret is that I was too cowardly to simply accept my fate at the beginning, so that I would never have asked that witch doctor._

_I must leave now, to seal the Kyuubi into your body. I am so sorry._

_And know that no matter what has or will happen, I love you and your mother with all my heart._

_Always remember that, my son._

_Minato Namikaze, Yondaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato_

_Alias the Yellow Flash'_

"No… it can't' be true…"

With that, Naruto blacked out.

_______

Unsure of his surroundings, Naruto found that he was in what appeared to be some sort of wasteland. Looking around, he saw that the barren, lifeless soul reached for miles, seemingly without end.

That's when a voice startled him.

"**It's about time we met, Naruto."**

Realizing it as the same voice that he'd heard that morning, Naruto swiveled around to face the threat, and almost wished he hadn't.

"**What's the matter, **_**boy**_**? Don't you like what you see?"**

It looked exactly like Naruto did, but with black hair that covered his right eye, paler complexion, and his visible eye was yellow. He also had bags under his eyes, as if he hadn't slept for months.

"What are you?!"

With a hollow laugh, the Dark-Naruto recited some lyrics:

"**I'm inside, open your eyes—I'm you!"**

As Naruto backed away, mentally screaming in denial, Dark-Naruto finished, **"Sad, but true…"**

"No, you're not me! I'm Naruto Uzumaki, and you're—you're something else entirely!"

Sighing, Dark-Naruto said, **"No you fool, we are the same person, to an extent. You are you, and I am a part of you. All the misery and neglect you've suffered in your life—I am your worst nightmare! I am your sadism, that part of you that wants only to hurt, to destroy, to take vengeance! All of the emotions you try so hard to repress—your anger and fear, your hatred and lust, all given form! I am the darkness in your heart made real! Every time someone hurts you, every time you're neglected—hell, every time Sakura tells you to fuck off—makes me that much stronger."**

"What—what do you want?!"

With a hollow laugh, Dark-Naruto said, **"What do I want—I want to live, damn you! We share the same body, yet neither can live while the other survives. I will live, even if doing means killing you—a feat which will ensure my own demise in the end."**

Naruto crouched over, gripping his head—seemingly in the throes of another mental breakdown.

The pain from inside was tearing away at him, threatening to destroy his sanity. He was remembering everything he'd ever suffered—it was maddening.

The Darkness was attempting to tear him apart from the inside out.

"Stop! I don't care, JUST STOP!!"

As the Dark-Naruto tilted his head, the agony—the soul-wrenching, mind-breaking agony—was over.

"**Why should I?"**

Desperate not to have to feel that pain again, Naruto said, "Look, you want to live, even if it means killing me—and I want to live just as badly, so where does that leave us?"

As if it were the most obvious thing in the world, Dark-Naruto said, **"At conflict with each other until either one or both of us is dead."**

"But it doesn't have to be that way! I'm willing to deal with you, if you'll listen."

Frowning, Dark-Naruto said, **"I fucking hate compromise—but if it means I'll live **_**longer**_** than Plan A allows in the long run, then I suppose I'll hear you out… for now."**

Releasing a breath at the fact that—apparently—he wouldn't have to _hurt_ anymore, Naruto made his case.

"I'm willing to let you take control—not permanently, but for a few hours a day, and in a fight if I'll die otherwise. I was thinking… about four hours a day for you. So long as you don't kill, steal from, rape, assault, or... do anything else bad like that, then we're good. And in a fight, IF you were given control, then you wouldn't be allowed to attack my friends. You have to protect my friends, and anyone close to me."

"**But what if they betray you, like your little Haku**_**-chan**_**?"** he used the honorific as if it were a curse word.

"I can cross that bridge when we come to it, Kage—"

Grabbing Naruto by the throat, Dark-Naruto said, **"You will not call me that! I am far more than just a shadow of you—I am more than half of what you are! I have a name, you bastard—it's Alastor!"**

With that, Alastor threw Naruto to the barren ground. Getting up, he said, "Fine then. I didn't know if you had an actual name, so I said the first thing that came to mind. I'll remember to call you Alastor from now on."

Still in a bit of a fury, Alastor shouted, **"And while I am fighting, you'd better not make me have to abide by some damned code of honor!"**

Realizing that this could make or break his best chance of living with even relative sanity, Naruto said, "I won't. If I need you to fight, Alastor…."

Naruto nearly horrified himself with his next declaration.

"Then as long as you don't go crazy on my friends or comrades, and only attack the enemy, you can cut loose _entirely_."

Eyes widening, Alastor inquired, **"Then… if we'd had this deal prior to Wave, if you'd run out of choices, you'd have let me do **_**anything**_** I wanted with Zabuza and Haku?"**

Suddenly knowing that Naruto had underestimated just how crazy his Doppelgänger was, he was stuck between breaking the deal or damning God knows how many people to suffering beyond even NARUTO'S vivid imagination.

Wondering if it made him just as bad as the nightmare in front of him, Naruto replied, "Yes. You could have dealt with them in any way you wanted."

With that, Naruto put out his hand and asked, "Do we have a deal?"

And as Alastor grinned, shook Naruto's hand, and said, **"Yes, we do. It's been a pleasure doing business with you, Naruto,"** said Jinchuuriki felt more agony as Darkness flowed into his body from Alastor's hand.

__________

For the last five minutes, Naruto's body had been convulsing rapidly, shifting between its normal and Corrupted forms. (**Note:** **whenever something normal about Naruto is changed to the Darkness-induced state, it will be referred to as "Corrupted".**)

When he suddenly shot up, it seemed that the Darkness had triumphed.

As Hiruzen and the others started moving to act, Naruto stopped them by saying, "Hold it right there. I'm still Naruto, you fools. I'm just stronger, Darker—better in every way."

If 'better' meant more powerful, then that was certainly true. However, Hiruzen and Iruka didn't judge like that—and since she'd been dating Iruka, neither did Anko.

Noticing the incredulous looks they were giving him, Naruto said, "What's the matter, old man? A twelve year-old kid whom you think of as a grandson has one bad day, and you don't trust him anymore? That's just sad. Like firing an ANBU Captain for failing to capture the Fire Daimyo's pet cat or something."

Still wary, Hiruzen said, "If you're really Naruto, then prove it."

Shaking his finger and going _tsk, tsk_ at the Hokage, he said, "The only way to do that would be to revert, and I don't feel like doing that right now. So you'll just have to take me at my word—is that too much to ask, coming from the Village pariah?"

Getting to his feet, Naruto started walking towards the window.

"Naruto, I'm not done talking with you yet!"

Looking over his shoulder, Naruto smirked and said, "I'll bear that in mind next time you hide something as important as my father's _name_ from me, Sarutobi-_dono_." As before, the honorific was spat like a curse.

Then, he walked into the window and passed right through it as he now stood at a right angle to the ground. Then, with a sarcastic salute everyone knew was an insult, Naruto dropped out of their sight.

____________

**I'm going to keep telling you to vote in DR's poll for the Summon Boss, but it seems that since Alucard is gaining votes much more quickly than Nightmare/Soul Edge, you should go and vote for him instead. I repeat: VOTE FOR ALUCARD. NOT SEPHIROTH.**

**Done voting yet? Good.**

**No, I'm not cheating the system. I'm simply REALLY fucking dedicated to my favorite incarnation of terror.**

**If you liked this story, then I humbly suggest that you also read the rest of my stories.**


	4. Dark Rage

Last time, on Darkness of the Heart…

_Now aware of his father's curse—as well as his identity—Naruto made a deal with the Darkness in his heart, possibly extending his life. Because of the Sandaime's secrecy regarding the Kuragari no Kokoro, as well as who Naruto's father was, Naruto's faith in him is severely shaken._

Chapter Four: Fury

Watching from a distance as Iruka, Anko, and Hiruzen appeared shocked beyond belief at Naruto's behavior, he couldn't help but smile.

Naruto was still mostly in control and would never hurt his family, but for the moment, Alastor had enough influence for both him and Naruto to get a kick out of playing mind games with them.

Leaping to the ground from his perch on the wall, Naruto hit the ground with a dull _thud_, but showed no sign of the impact whatsoever.

The first thing Naruto planned on doing was to get some fucking _lunch_. However, he knew that if he went to Ichiraku's, the old man and his daughter would start asking questions he didn't feel like answering.

So, God willing, Naruto'd get something other than ramen. (**Note: when I put ['d] at th end of a proper noun (ex.: "Naruto'd"), I am using it as a contraction for "Naruto would". I am not turning "Naruto" into a verb.**)

But the question was, what the hell _would_ he get? It's not like he'd ever gone to any oer restaraunts, and just as he didn't have anything other than ramen at home. Mulling it over a moment, he flipped a coin. "Heads, I'll look around myself; tails, I'll ask the first person I know."

Tossing the piece of silver into the air, it turned end over end repeatedly until Naruto grabbed it out of the air and slapped it onto the back of his hand.

"Tails."

Putting the coin back in his pocket, Naruto leapt onto a nearby wall, looking for someone he recognized—and preferably who wouldn't bother to ask any damned questions.

Spying a pineapple-shaped mop, he grinned. "Perfect."

With a discharge of chakra to each of his hands and feet, Naruto rocketed towards the building behind Shikamaru, then dropped to the street below.

Quickly moving in on his target, Naruto snuck up behind him and asked, "Hey, can I ask you something?"

Eyeing the drastically changed, formerly orange-clad ninja, the super-intellectual shadow master dryly replied, "Naruto, you just did."

Laughing at the sarcasm, Naruto continued, "Okay then. Barring further questions about whether or not I may actually ask said questions, may I ask you a question?"

"Sure thing. What did you want to know?"

"Are there any good places to eat around here—I'm not really in the mood for ramen today."

Nearly having a coronary (actually suffering a heart attack would've been too troublesome), Shikamaru said, "Yeah, there's a called Hanuman's just down the block. Three story building, black-and-green neon sign, giant monkey poster—you can't miss it."

Slapping the lazy Nara on the back, Naruto said, "Great. Oh, and could you please not tell anybody about my, um… transformation?"

Raising an eyebrow, Shikamaru asked, "Like Ino?"

"Especially Ino."

"Meh. Telling anybody would be too damned troublesome."

"I owe you one, bud." With that, Naruto disappeared seemingly in a flash of dark energy.

Putting thoughts about the change in his friend out of his mind, Shikamaru pondered if it might possibly have had something to do with the Kyuubi.

"Ah well. Doesn't really concern me anyway."

______

Stepping into the door of the establishment, Naruto looked at the sign indicating he should seat himself, and did so at a corner booth and surveyed the place to pass the time before a waitress came and gave him a menu.

There were a lot of square tables with four chairs per table, and a number of booths along the walls. (**Basically, it looks a lot like the inside of a Hooters restaraunt. If you've never been to one, you need to remedy that problem immediately. As in, stop reading this, find your keys, wallet, and checkbook (or another person with said materials), turn off your computer, get in the car, and go to your nearest Hooters! Personally, I recommend the buffalo shrimp…**)

"You look like your new here. What can I do for you?"

Eyeing the waitress, Naruto observed that she had naturally crimson eyes, and a rather beautiful face framed by her sky blue hair. Apparently, there wasn't a uniform here, since she was wearing faded jeans and a green tank top. The name tag on her shirt identified her as Teresa Jennifer Gray.

With a grin, Naruto said, "Quite a few things, actually, but I don't think that's what you had in mind… unless I'm wrong?"

Blushing three shades of red, she said, "No, sir, you're correct. My mind was most certainly not in the gutter."

"Very well then, Miss Gray, I'll try to keep mine out of said gutter as well. As for my order, I've never been here, so I don't know what you serve."

Blushing again at the (hopefully) unintended innuendo, she said, "Well, we serve just about everything short of ramen and alcohol. There is a bar on the second floor, but I'd have to see ID stating you're 15 before I let you up there. And please, call me TJ. Everyone else does."

"Okay then, 'TJ'. Hand me a menu, and if you need to check up on anyone else, do so. I'd like a few minutes to survey my options."

Suddenly seeing the headband, TJ made a mental note to keep aware of it as she said, "Sure thing, Mister…"

Sighing, Naruto said, "My last name is Namikaze. I have two first names, which I can explain to you later, if you wish."

Nodding, TJ went to attend to other customers while Naruto looked at his available choices.

Hanuman's really did have everything—local dishes, Chinese, Italian, so on and so forth.

They also had a variety of soft drinks available.

When TJ came back a few minutes later, she asked, "Are you ready to order?"

"Yes, I think I'll try… Mountain Dew to drink, and what would you suggest for the main course?"

Tapping her chin with a pencil, TJ asked, "Do you have any allergies?"

"None."

"On a scale of 1-5, how high is your tolerance for spicy foods?"

"It depends, but usually around three."

"You like seafood?"

"Never tried any."

"Well in that case, I suggest you try either the buffalo shrimp we just imported, or the makisushi."

Smiling, Naruto said, "I'll have the makizushi, then."

Telling him that the order would be ready in a few minutes, TJ turned to get the kitchen crew in gear.

After that, TJ came back and sat at the booth with him. "So you were going to tell me about your two first names?"

Sighing, Naruto said, "As you can tell by my headband, I'm a shinobi—right now I'm still a genin, but that'll change soon enough. At any rate, I have a kind of… split personality that causes my body to change depending on who's in control. Right now, we're… sharing, so now, and when I'm in total control, my name is Naruto. But when _he's_ in total control, my name is Alastor."

"Hrm."

With that, TJ started telling Naruto a bit about herself while he ate, and before either of them knew it, they'd become good friends. Suddenly Naruto asked, "How old are you?"

Eyeing the boy, she replied, "Seventeen. Why?"

His face adorned with a sardonic smile, Naruto said, "Because I've been trying to see _Watchmen_, but they won't let me in by myself, and I can't get anyone I know to take me."

With a grin, she asked, "Naruto… are you asking me out?"

Waving it away, he said, "Nah—you're not my type. I'm just trying to use an available resource to get what I want."

Laughing, Teresa continued the inside joke to be: "Okay, I'll do it on one condition. I take you to see _Watchmen_, and you help me take over the world. Deal?"

Shaking her hand, Naruto said, "Deal."

_____

That night, Naruto went to his apartment for what he had decided would be the last time—starting tomorrow, he would go to his father's house and move all of his stuff over there.

The Darkness had receded for now, and Naruto remembered how, ironically, he already knew where to go.

His mother had lived until Naruto turned eight, but until then, they had gone to the Fourth Hokage's house every week to clean it. Whenever Naruto had asked why, Kushina said, "He was one of my closest friends. I at least owe him this much."

Four years ago, Kushina Uzumaki died on a B-rank mission that should've been easy-peasy. But there hadn't been enough intel—she was ambushed, and was killed.

Naruto had found out about it on his eighth birthday.

Shaking away the morbid thoughts, Naruto undressed, showered, and contemplated the wonders of makisushi as he went to sleep.

_____

The next morning, Naruto underwent his daily routine, ate some ramen for breakfast (making a mental note to get something else from then on), and as he had the day off, it was a perfect 'moving day'.

Absentmindedly reaching for the jar where his mother had kept the keys to the Namikaze Place (as he had called it), Naruto suddenly realized that it was empty.

The keys weren't there, but a very faint chakra signature was. Something he'd found out last night was that even without using the curse, his senses were still higher than normal.

This chakra felt a little like the old man's…

And then he remembered that he hadn't even checked it since his graduation—Naruto had been so busy dealing with his team and missions that he hadn't had the chance.

"Only three people can get into my apartment—Mother saw to that. Since I wouldn't steal my own keys, and Iruka-sensei doesn't even know about them, that just leaves—"

Eyes widening in fury, Naruto became Corrupted once more—this time, though, cause he was so enraged that he wanted the Darkness—it was much better for 'negotiation'.

"If diplomacy doesn't work, then I'm going to use _democracy_..."

______

The Third's receptionist said, "Sir, Hokage-sama is busy, you can't see him now. _Sir_, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

As shegot in Naruto's way, attempting to dissuade him a third time, Naruto threw her aside and said, "You're in my way, woman!"

Then, kicking open the door to Hiruzen's office, Naruto demanded, "I WANT SOME FUCKING__ ANSWERS!! _**NOW!!!**_"

Nearly having a heart attack at Naruto's brashness and disrespect (even for him), Hiruzen asked, "What kind of answers?"

Throwing the desk by a wall, Naruto said, "DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME!!!"

Then, in a much darker tone, he said, "Listen you geriatric bastard, I had the keys to the Namikaze Manor up until last month, and your chakra signature was in my apartment! I _know_ I have't invited you to my place since I graduated, so that means that you essentially broke into my apartment and stole from me. Breaking and entering is a crime, even for the Hokage, and unless you tell me what I want to know, I WILL press charges."

Narrowing his eyes, Sarutobi said, "And what are the odds of me getting convicted, even if I were to stack the trial against myself?"

"Too small to worry about, but the accusation alone would hurt your political image. I know this, and so do you. You're going to give me back the keys to my father's home—no, _my_ home, tell me WHY the fucking hell you took them in the first place, and divulge any other little secrets pertaining to me."

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and he continued, "Whenever Mom would start talking about my dad, she could only tell me that he was a powerful shinobi and that his name was Minato. After that, she'd always start choking up—she said that she was overcome with emotion, but I don't buy it anymore."

So, activating his stolen Sharingan to achieve a bit more of a dramatic effect, Naruto demanded, "So why did you steal my keys, why did you lie to me about my father, why didn't you tell me about the curse, what else are you hiding, and what the fuck did you do to my mother?!"

Shocked at the harshness in the boy's tone, he noted that when Naruto had been in control of the curse, the eyes had looked much the same color as the Shukaku's. Now, however, they were much darker, and the sclera was a medium gray.

Naruto listened as Hiruzen told him of Minato's various enemies—both domestic, and abroad—and explained that he'd taken the keys because he didn't know if Naruto had planned on moving to the Manor.

Dropping the old man, the sclera darkened slightly as he said, "Either you're lying to me, or you really are that pathetic. Of course I'm fucking moving into my father's house—why the hell wouldn't I? And all of these—excuses, flimsy excuses! I can't believe I ever trusted you."

Suddenly appearing on the outside wall, he continued, "I almost decided to stop fighting because of you."

__________

_**Next time, on Darkness of the Heart:**_

A redhead yelled, "Damnit Jirobo, let go of me!"

"Do as she says, Gaijin."

As the fat man called Jirobo turned, he shouted, "Don't make me laugh, you shrimp!"

A wave of sickening darkness flooded the alley, and as Naruto crouched low with Death in his eyes, he asked, **"So then… still think I'm not a threat?"**

__________

**Well now, Naruto just raged at the Hokage, he's really pissed, and we get to watch the repurcussions of this. Who's in the wrong here? Is it Naruto for nearly going ballistic on Sarutobi? Or the Hokage for keeping the truth from Naruto about his parentage? Tell me what you think!**

**Furthermore, I would've updated this on April 15, but I couldn't get enough privacy to do so.**

**The fics I'm putting most of my energy into are "Manhunter", "Fox-Carnage", this one, and "Heart of Ice".**

**Right now, most—if not everything else—is pretty much to help combat the wicked fiend we all know and loathe: Writer's Block.**

**The upcoming works I'll be using to keep my creative juices flowing are as follows (you can pick which one I'll do first):**

**The Modern League: An LXG fanfic, semi-movieverse. Col. Nick Fury decides that to deal with the increasing threats to humanity—mad scientists, supervillains, etc.—he needs to create a new League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Dante, Hellboy, Agent 86, Selene, and Rorschach.**

**White Rose: A Naruto/FFVII x-over, in which Yuffie appears in the Narutoverse and winds up adopting Naruto when he's five.**

**A Demon Amongst Monsters: A Naruto/Claymore crossover, in which the Narutoverse evolves into the Claymore universe. Naruto, immortal due to the Kyuubi, adapts and becomes a Yoma hunter.**

**Wherever I May Roam: A Naruto/Highlander fusion fanfic.**


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